Lady Hamilton tableware on display at the Oneida Community Mansion House

ONEIDA -- "The Design and Promotion of Lady Hamilton Tableware: 1932 -1954" opened on Feb. 19 at the Oneida Community Mansion House in a second floor exhibition gallery and will continue through the end of August.

Spanning the Depression, World War II, and the Eisenhower years, Lady Hamilton flatware was one of the longest-lasting patterns of Oneida's high-end silver plate, according to OCMH curator, Tony Wonderley. The show features a table-setting of silverware, plates, glassware and serving pieces belonging to the Lady Hamilton line.

The company had just begun to commission tableware products (Community China and Crystal) to accompany its flatware and some of the first examples -- in the Art Deco Deauville (1929) and Noblesse (1930) designs -- also are on display.

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A quarter century of Oneida's industry-leading promotional work can be perused in seventeen full-page ads from Life, Saturday Evening Post, and Good Housekeeping. Among these eye-catching graphics is one of the most successful campaigns in American advertising history: Jon Whitcomb's war-time series, "Back home for keeps." Included is an original Whitcomb watercolor for a 1947 version of the ad, "Let's make it for keeps."

Visitors are invited to learn the story from text-and-image panels prepared by Don Cornue of Sherrill, to acquaint themselves with examples of Oneida silverware, and to view Oneida's earliest publicity film. Remarkable for its local scenery, this 1929 movie conveys the company's philosophy of silverware design.

The Oneida Community Mansion House is located at 170 Kenwood Ave., Oneida. For information, call 363-0745 or visit: